


Guiding Hand

by Tarlan



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-07
Packaged: 2018-04-16 10:34:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4622052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skye experiences the gift of another of the inhuman - Kitty Pryde.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Guiding Hand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [scribblemyname](https://archiveofourown.org/users/scribblemyname/gifts).



> Written for: **scribblemyname** for **Crossovering** 2015, who asked for:
> 
>  
> 
> _Inhumans, those with the Gift, mutants, and fairies. I'd love to see straight up crossover where the two worlds are side by side in some canonically compliant way and really affect each other or a world fusion where there are characters from both worlds but the rules of one or both and the history of one._
> 
>  
> 
> I do hope you will enjoy this story :)

Skye stared out across San Francisco Bay at the once famous landmark of Alcatraz, now reduced to rubble along with the damaged section of the Golden Gate Bridge. Between one thought and the next she was standing on the sidelines, watching as the first ranks of inhumans rushed towards the soldiers. With all she had already seen, none of their mutations shocked her, just the sheer number of them. Some were like her, innocuous looking until they revealed their gift, and others were like Raina and Gordon with their outward appearance screaming, 'Monster!' to most normal, narrow-minded humans.

The group standing firm against them were also inhuman but that didn't surprise Skye for, in a sense, she was like them, standing on the side of humanity, of peace, after rejecting her mother's call to arms. Skye watched as a beautiful, dark-skinned woman's eyes turned milky-white, arms stretched out to gather the very air surrounding her, conjuring up electricity and using it like forked lightning. Meanwhile, Ice and Fire battled for supremacy in the arena below.

A unpleasant sensation crept across her, slipping through her mind. Skye looked across and found dark eyes silently appraising her, which should not have been possible among all the hundreds engaged in this battle. Her presence in this alternate time line was as an observer only and yet there was no mistaking the intrigue in the dark eyes; this woman could sense her presence.

Dark Phoenix.

The name came unbidden inside Skye's head, the mind touch lasting but a brief moment before events distracted the woman, pulling that strong mind away. To Skye, the raw power of the Dark Phoenix was both mesmerizing and terrifying. She could see her own gift played out in this woman's hands, vibrating the world at the subatomic level, breaking everything down to its basic elements - walls, rubble, cars... people. For a moment Skye wondered if even the Avengers could stand against such a force.

One man could; his skin flayed away and rebuilding instantly until he was standing before the Dark Phoenix, the life draining from her as his long metal claws pierced her body. The psychic backlash from the death of the Dark Phoenix swept Skye back into her own time, into her own universe even as the man's cry of anguish ripped through the suddenly still air.

She gasped, blinking rapidly as she refocused on Kitty.

"What did you see?" Kitty asked, eyes wide with concern.

"I don't... So many of our kind. Hundreds. At war."

Kitty nodded. "I guess in some alternate time lines the ancient Kree were more successful in their Terrigenesis experiments on the human race."

Skye nodded but her thoughts lingered on the Dark Phoenix and the terrifying power she had wielded with total indifference, and without a conscience, killing human and inhuman alike. She shuddered because that could so easily have been her, following in her mother's terrible footsteps, if not for her friends in both Afterlife and SHIELD, who had helped her to learn how to focus and control her gift.

Kitty's gift was just as special, giving her the power to transfer the thoughts of another person backwards through time or across different time streams, revealing the past or an alternate present. It had hurt, but Skye had wanted to experience the transition and see what path she might have taken.

In that other time line she had stood against the humans, waiting for the order to attack, and she wondered what events had caused her to side with them.

"I saw a woman who was able to control the weather, and a man who seemed impervious to death like..."

"Like your mother?"

Skye nodded, feeling her grief settle over her as she recalled those too few days when she'd been given everything she'd always dreamed of having - a mother and father. Family. At least her father still lived, though with no memory of the terrible things he had done in his quest to be reunited with his wife and child. Skye had kept her promise to visit him even though he didn't know her anymore, but seeing him as this loving person had made her heavy burden of grief and regret just a little more bearable.

"I wonder if any of the people I saw exist in this time line. And if they do, would they still have the genetic marker that could make them inhuman?"

"Tell me about them."

Skye sank back against the pillows of the bed where she had settled during the transition as much for her benefit as for Kitty's. She thought again of the beautiful woman who could control the weather with such ease and grace, describing her to Kitty. All too soon her thoughts returned to the Dark Phoenix, and to the powerful mind that had sliced through all her defenses out of intrigue before turning the tide of the battle in favor of the inhumans, at least until she began to annihilate even them.

"Dark Phoenix," Skye murmured.

"Skye?"

For a moment it terrified Skye that this woman might exist, that she might one day find her way to Afterlife and become one of the inhuman. It made her appreciate why SHIELD considered some of the inhuman to be too dangerous to remain at large. All that power wielded by just one person could have devastating consequences unless channeled properly, or controlled.

Like her own power, Skye thought, recalling the way she had lashed out in fear when Hydra came for her at the retreat where Coulson had placed her for safety. Gordon had saved her that day, transporting her to Afterlife. What if this Dark Phoenix was given her gift but wielded it without compassion, lashing out blindly at any threat no matter how real or imagined?

Kitty listened in silence before wrapping her arms around Skye, instantly picking up that Skye was seeing the Dark Phoenix as a malevolent reflection of herself.

"That was another time. Perhaps she had no one to show her how to use her gifts wisely."

Kitty smiled and Skye could easily read the hidden meaning in her words, that Skye was not alone. She had friends who cared for her - loved her even - and they would guide her through the difficult days ahead.

"I still think we should find her."

"Tomorrow," Kitty demanded. "Right now all I want is ice cream. I think we both deserve some."

Skye laughed and followed her out into the courtyard. Ice cream sounded perfect.

****

Jean shook her head as the remnants of a waking nightmare dissipated, leaving her with a slight headache.

Charles rolled a few feet towards her in his chair. "Jean?"

"Just a strange..." She shook her head and smiled at him. "It's nothing."

He kept eye contact for a moment longer before nodding his acceptance. She knew he could simply slip into her mind and see the images of destruction. No doubt he would simply tell her it was her own fears manifesting, pitting her against her friends and all she believed in but Logan chose that moment to step into Charles' favorite teaching room. Parts of her waking nightmare returned, recalling his desperation, his love, and his anguish at losing her.

He seemed a little different today. Older. Wiser, perhaps. She smiled as she recalled his simple joy at seeing both her and Scott yesterday, and wondered if he'd experienced a similar vision of a terrible future. Yet rather than scare her, her 'dream' had given her a small measure of comfort from knowing he would save her - even from herself if necessary. 

With Charles, Scott, Logan, Ororo, and others at the school to guide her, she knew she would never see a Dark Phoenix rise from the ashes of her mind.

END

 

**Author's Note:**

> Also meets:  
>  **Trope_bingo Round 5** : in Another Man's Shoes


End file.
